Originally Posted by
percysmith
Bylaw Area is really the Airport Area plus roads. Bylaw section 20 by and of itself does not give statutory authority to the labels attached to various places e.g. Meeters & Greeters Hall is for meeting & greeting, immigration hall is for entering into HK.
Correct. However, just because Section 20 is written this way, this does not mean the labeling is unreasonable.
Originally Posted by
percysmith
So just as long as I do have a reasonable cause to be in any part of the airport, section 20 alone cannot be used to prosecute me. I can wait for the AEL to open at (pre-restricted area) departures. I can also meet people there instead of the meeters and greeters hall.
100% correct.
Originally Posted by
watery
It's definitely more suspicious if you hide in a toilet for half an hour than to actually have some coffee out there
Correct.
Originally Posted by
watery
I believe if you tell any staff you wanna meet your friend for a while who's going in transit, it will be considered legitimate reason to be there. To make up any story would be far worse.
This is my main focus of my argument - The immigration hall is not designed for waiting purposes (in fact, many Control Points in Hong Kong specify no waiting in the area). So an arriving passenger waits a friend/relative could raise questions, especially when the wait indeed results a delay in immigration inspection.
Originally Posted by
nightkhan
But wait, the part you quoted from the appeals even says:
"It is designated for use by members of the public for, but only for, the ordinary and legitimate purposes connected with the use of the Airport, such as waiting for planes to arrive or depart, meeting or picking up people arriving at the Airport, or seeing friends and relatives off."
There is a difference between waiting inside and outside the restricted area. While the CFA has only provided an overview, I don't believe it is unreasonable to interpret that the bolded phrase apply to outside restricted area only.